Qu Neng lived up to Zhu Ao's expectations, brought 7,000 elite soldiers, and pacified the three tribes in less than half a month, and contributed a lot of cheap slaves to Zhu Ao's farm.

In a jubilant atmosphere, Zhu Ao and others ushered in the New Year of the twenty-seventh year of Hongwu, and on the first day of the Lunar New Year, Zhu Ao sat in the hall to accept the congratulations of hundreds of officials.

Among the military attachés, the highest official position is the former general Qu Neng, but he is still in Dunhuang and cannot come to visit Zhu Ao, so the military attache is commanded by the original Ganzhou right guard, and the current general Fan Chaoxi leads the New Year's greetings to Zhu Ao.

Fan Chaoxi first handed over the congratulatory watch of their generals, in fact, this congratulatory watch Zhu Ao didn't look at it and knew that it was definitely not written by their group of big bosses, it must have been written by someone like their Xiucai Bookstore, but Zhu Ao didn't care about these, and his mind was the most important.

After Fan Chaoxi handed the congratulatory watch to Zhu Ao's personal eunuch Huai'en, he made a gesture to Zhu Ao and said, "Your Highness, the ministers and other military ministers are not as educated as those talented old men, and they can't say anything beautiful. The ministers will make a statement on their behalf, His Royal Highness is as kind to the ministers as a mountain, and the ministers must ensure that His Highness will always enjoy wealth and wealth, if anyone dares to get along with His Highness, we must make him look good. The ministers are the minions of His Highness, as long as he says a word, His Highness will fight wherever the ministers point to! ”

Zhu Ao laughed, he likes to speak the truth, although such a vernacular is difficult to get into the elegant hall, but it is very comfortable to listen to, very useful, said: "The general and all the military ministers are people of flesh and blood, loyal and brave, this king is going to rely on you to expand the territory, as long as you are loyal to kill the enemy, this king will definitely not treat you badly." ”

Fan Chaoxi and all the generals immediately knelt on the ground, kowtowed in unison, and said, "Your Highness, please thank you!" ”

Zhu Ao hurriedly raised his hand, motioned for them to be flat, and said with a smile: "Okay, good." Everyone, Aiqing, hurry up, today is New Year's Day, the monarch and the ministers are happy, there is no need to be so polite. ”

Next is Wenchen's congratulations.

Shi Jijun, the former right chief of the palace, was determined to follow Zhu Ao after the founding of the country, and Zhu Ao did not treat him badly, and gave him the letter of judgment of Cao Cao, the heavenly official with the highest civil official position. In order to make the state machinery run efficiently as soon as possible, Zhu Ao appointed a large number of officials in the past six months, and these officials must go to the official Cao Judgment to get the appointment certificate before they can take office. Many people also gave Ji Jun a meaning, which allowed him to fully enjoy the wonders of power.

In the past, when he was only a mere fifth-grade long history, no one scolded him, not to mention that he was just a deputy position, and most of the head was held by Wei Yansheng. Now that he has become the leader of the most important department, he is full of people who want to follow his path to seek a half-official position, and some gray income is naturally inevitable.

But Ji Junyong is a person who cherishes the future, Zhu Ao gave him full trust in giving such an important position, and he would not ruin his image in Zhu Ao's mind for this little money, so he did not go too far in some aspects.

Ji Junyong was the head of the civil officials, and led the civil officials to hand over the congratulatory watch to Zhu Ao, and went out to make a gesture: "Today is the first New Year since the founding of my country. ”

Everyone likes to listen to auspicious words during the Chinese New Year, and Zhu Ao was very happy to let Huaien accept the congratulatory watch he handed over, and said with a smile: "Good, good." The ministers have been operating dismally with this king, and it is really hard to have today's situation. The king will not forget your merits, and the king intends to restore the twenty-rank title system of the Qin state, and grant meritorious ministers to enjoy wealth for generations to come. ”

Whether it is a civil servant or a military general, there is a happy expression on his face when he hears this, the official position is only temporary, and it has nothing to do with him after retirement, but the title is forever, and he can pass it on to his son when he dies, so as to ensure that his descendants have an iron rice bowl.

Moreover, in the concept of the ancients, having a title is considered to be a step into the ranks of nobles, which is a supreme honor, and the ministers with titles in the Han Dynasty often crowned themselves with titles in front of their own names, rather than the title of official positions. And in the Han Dynasty, it was nothing to be removed from the official position, and there were many people who turned over in the future, so there were not many people who were distressed, but if the title was cut, it would be a very serious matter.

It is the dream of every man in feudal society to be crowned a marquis, so that future generations can enjoy wealth forever, and share the country with the dynasty.

All the civil and military officials standing in the palace knelt down in unison, kowtowed, and said: "Thank you, Your Highness, Longen, Your Highness, Chitose, Chitose!" ”

Zhu Ao liked the feeling of being supported by thousands of people with this word, and raised his hand with a smile and said, "Zhong Aiqing is flat." The names of the twentieth rank titles of the Qin Dynasty are too difficult to remember, and now many people are difficult to remember, so the king changed their names according to the system of the imperial court. The title is divided into seven levels, such as duke, marquis, uncle, son, male, doctor, and chief, and the first six are not equally divided into upper, middle and lower levels, and the chief is divided into two levels. If you want to get the title, you must have military merits, and you can get the title of the right lord by beheading one level on the battlefield. If a civil servant has military merits, according to the father-emperor system, he can be crowned as an earl at the most. ”

If Zhu Ao wants to dominate the world, he naturally has to rely on the strength of military generals, so he adopts the same strategy as Zhu Yuanzhang, that is, advocating martial arts and suppressing literature, so that the status of military generals is higher than that of Wenchen, so that they are more willing to work for themselves.

Although the highest can only be sealed to the earl, but this is better than nothing, and the earl is also superb, his son was born with a higher status than the first grade, this feeling is naturally cool, don't want it, so all the ministers also support it, and the hall is a tsunami-like praise.

Zhu Ao nodded with great satisfaction, he still has to discuss with the ministers the standards and specific treatment of the twentieth rank title, but this matter will be decided today, and this will be the institutional guarantee for him to dominate the world.

After dealing with a few trivial things, Zhu Ao retreated, accompanied by Huai'en, walked to the harem, and unconsciously walked to the back garden set up by the queen Sun Yunqi. Sun Yunqi was enjoying the flowers there, Zhu Ao wanted to scare her, but when she saw it, she immediately stepped forward, knelt on the ground and kowtowed: "The concubine visited the prince, I don't know if the prince is far away, and I ask the prince to forgive me." ”

Zhu Ao hurriedly took two steps forward, helped his beloved wife up, and said gently: "Queen, please get up quickly, you and I are husband and wife, there is no need to be so polite." ”

Sun Yunqi slowly stood up with Zhu Ao's support, and said meekly: "Thank you for the prince's mercy, but no matter what, the concubine's gift to the prince cannot be abandoned." ”